358 
FOREST AND STREAM 
June, 1918 
A Razor Blade Knife 
A USEFUL little knife that is as handy 
for the fly tyer as for his wife can 
be made from a safety razor blade. This 
knife is especially good for ripping canvas 
or cloth. It needs for its construction two 
rivets of a size to fit the holes, two pieces 
of tin and some tire tape. The pieces of 
tin are placed as shown in the drawing 
and fastened together with the rivets. The 
handle is wound with the tire tape to give 
a good grip until it is the size desired. 
The total length of the knife is only four 
inches and it is a handy little tool to have 
around. The good steel of which the tiny 
blade is made will keep sharp a long time. 
The man who never makes something 
new and useful out of something eld and 
discarded misses much of the joy of living; 
and I, for one, have as much genuine pleas¬ 
ure in some little thing of my own manu¬ 
facture as a millionaire has in the most 
expensive equipment he can buy offhand. 
To Color Home-Made Baits 
I LIKE to rig up baits when I am fishing 
and I have some in my collection that 
have given good service. I generally whit¬ 
tle new ones to while away time in camp 
and I have found that the wax crayons used 
by children for school work are very good 
for coloring the baits. They are clear, 
bright colors, are waterproof, will not smut 
or run and take very little time to apply. 
I can experiment to my heart’s content 
with them and if the bait is not any good 
I have not wasted a lot of valuable time 
and expensive enamel. I carry a piece of red, 
one of yellow, and one of green in my ditty 
bag, and while my attempts at bait making 
are not particularly artistic they generally 
get the fish. 
George Collins, Maine. 
The Problem of Winding or Splicing 
■^TOTICING the article by Bro. B. Price, 
of Maine, in your April issue, let me 
offer a method I have used for years in 
winding my rods, as well as for tying the 
splice on two piece wood fly rods, and for 
securing the end of a rope. 
The simplicity of this method will appeal 
to my brother sportsmen who are not “in 
the know,” I am very sure, and if taken 
seriously will enable them to repair their 
rods when necessity calls and when good 
sport would be lost by lack of ability to re¬ 
pair, as the job can be accomplished with 
any kind of thread or fine cord, and when 
this method is taken you can only undo 
your work with a knife, as it will not come 
undone. 
Fig. i, for small windings. If you are 
right handed grasp part to be wound in left 
hand, throw the thread over from you, and 
grasp with thumb and forefinger of right 
hand, insert a loop of the same thread you 
are using under first winding, and wind 
over the end of your thread, letting end run 
to the left; continue to wind over until 
winding is finished, cut your thread long 
enough to insert in loop, and pull sharply 
through as shown in Fig. iA, cut ends with 
sharp knife. 
Fig. 2 shows a longer winding; wind your 
end in and cut off after you have covered 
with 4 or 5 windings; continue to wind until 
you have 4 or 5 windings to go, then insert 
your loop, wind over and pull through and 
cut off with sharp knife close to finished 
winding. See Fig. 2A. 
This method has the advantage of having 
no slack, the windings at ends being just as 
tight as at the middle, and it makes a neat 
job. 
Every angler should carry in his kit a 
spool of silk thread, and a small bottle of 
shellac. 
I hope Bro. Price will not think I am 
“stealing his thunder.” I feel certain he will 
try this method, and think well of his 
brother angler. 
W. H. Thompson, Ohio. 
A Rod for the Boy to Make 
I HAVE outgrown my fondness for fish¬ 
ing with a bent pin on a string and a 
chunk of salt pork for bait, but as long as 
I live I shall never outgrow my fondness 
for making “fish poles.” A good thing for 
the littlest boy to know—as well as a use¬ 
ful bit of knowledge for his father—is the 
way I have of making a pole into a rod, 
with guides and all. 
The first step is to cut a smooth pole of 
the length best suited to your height and 
to the water which you are going to fish. 
Get one not too springy and not stiff 
enough to use as a club; whittle off all 
projections and make it as nice as you like. 
You can make a fine checkered grip on the 
butt. The guides are very small screw 
eyes inserted at convenient intervals; the 
tip guide must be bent over nearly but not 
quite at right angles before inserting in 
the end of the rod. Guides enable the 
extra line to be wound up on the butt of 
the rod instead of on the tip as small boys’ 
fishing rods generally are made top heavy 
in this way. 
This rod is good for the unexpected 
extra member of a party, or for the “wim- 
men folks” who insist on fishing after all, 
or for a pleasant occupation on a rainy 
day in camp, or when the good rod is 
broken, or for many uses. The only thing 
to be guarded against is, forgetting to put 
a few very small screw eyes in the ditty 
bag. H. B. M., Illinois. 
A Useful Square of Wire Cloth 
W HEN one is going light in the woods 
one pan always has to do duty for 
several utensils. This is very true of the 
vessel which is coffeepot, teapot and other 
things in one. 
It ought by 
rights to have 
a spout, but a 
spout is very 
hard to keep 
clean when the 
article is put 
to so many 
uses. The fa¬ 
miliar strainer 
for tea or 
coffee is too bulky to carry into the'woods 
and cheese cloth is not handy to use. The 
wire screen cloth takes the trick. It should 
be of the non-rustable kind and about five 
inches in diameter. It can be used flat 
over a large basin or can be bent into shape 
to fit a ring of wood or the framework 
of a regular strainer. It is easy to pack 
and to wash and just about fills the bill 
for a camper’s strainer. 
